Pakistan Rejects India's Suspension of Indus Waters Treaty, Calls It 'Valid and Binding'
Pakistan's Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar on Tuesday (June 20, 2026) stated that Pakistan rejects India's decision to revoke the Indus Waters Treaty, asserting that the pact 'remains valid, binding and operative.'
India suspended the World Bank-brokered treaty in April 2025 as a punitive measure against Pakistan following the Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 civilians. The treaty, signed in 1960, governs the distribution and use of the Indus River and its tributaries between the two nations.
'No party can unilaterally suspend or terminate its obligations under a treaty that contains no such provision,' Dar claimed while addressing a seminar on the Indus Waters Treaty in Islamabad, according to Radio Pakistan.
He described the treaty as not merely a water-sharing arrangement, but a 'vital instrument of regional peace, stability and cooperation.' Dar added that shared waters 'must remain a bridge between nations, guided by cooperation, dialogue and respect for international law for the benefit of the present and future generations.'
He warned that any attempt to deprive Pakistan of waters 'rightfully allocated' to it would have 'profound consequences' for regional peace and security.
At the same seminar, Pakistan Peoples Party chief Bilawal Bhutto Zardari proposed a new 'international convention against the weaponisation of waterways.' He argued that waterways should not be used as instruments of coercion, and this principle should apply globally, including the Strait of Hormuz, Suez Canal, Panama Canal, Nile, Tigris, Euphrates, and Indus.
Comparing the Indus River's strategic significance to the Strait of Hormuz, Zardari questioned: if peace cannot be achieved between the US and Iran with the Strait of Hormuz shut, 'how can any ceasefire between India and Pakistan hope to endure without the IWT being restored?'
The Indus Waters Treaty was signed on September 19, 1960, after nine years of negotiations aimed at managing cross-border river issues. India's suspension has raised questions about the future of water-sharing and bilateral relations.
